Energy resources
URANIUM
Uranium (U) is a mildly radioactive element with two isotopes. Uranium is the basic fuel of nuclear energy.
Uranium oxide concentrate is the mixture of uranium oxides produced after milling uranium ore from a mine. It is sometimes loosely referred to as 'yellowcake.' It is khaki in colour and is usually represented by the empirical formula U308. Uranium is normally sold in this form.
Uranium is a relatively common metal, found in rocks and seawater. Economic concentrations of it are not uncommon. Quantities of mineral resources are greater than commonly perceived. It is more common than tin, about 40 times more common than silver, and 500 times more common than gold. Uranium is a constituent of most rocks and even of the sea.
Where uranium is at low levels in rock or sands, it needs to be in a form which is easily separated for those concentrations to be called 'ore.' This means that it needs to be in a mineral form that can easily be dissolved by sulphuric acid or sodium carbonate leaching.
An ore body is, by definition, an occurrence of mineralisation from which the metal is economically recoverable. It is therefore relative to both costs of extraction and market prices. At present, neither the oceans nor granites are ore bodies, but conceivably, either could become so if prices were to rise sufficiently.
In addition to uranium's use as nuclear fuel, it is also used for:
- Manufacture of electric and hybrid-electric vehicles.
- Process heat for various industrial applications including desalination, synthetic and unconventional oil production, oil refining, biomass-based ethanol production, and in the future: hydrogen production.
- Nuclear desalination.
- Nuclear medicine uses radiation to provide diagnostic information and for treatment.
- Sealed radioactive sources are used in industrial radiography, gauging applications and mineral analysis.
- Short-lived radioactive material is used in flow tracing and mixing measurements.
- Gamma sterilisation is used for medical supplies, some bulk commodities and increasingly, for food preservation.
- Radioisotope power sources have been an important source of energy in space since 1961. Fission power sources have been used mainly by Russia, but new and more powerful designs are under development in the USA.
- Most smoke detectors which operate alarms contain an artificially produced radioisotope: americum-241; which is made in nuclear reactors and is a decay product of plutonium-241.
